Newsletter

I Do, I Do: Despite the miles, their long-distance love would not be denied

Stout Photography Anna Lee and Tim Buehn

Anna Lee and Tim Buehn may have never shared an address, but their hearts are always in the same place.

Their courtship began on a chance double date to the 2008 Debutante Ball in Orange Park. Anna, an Alma, Ga., native, tagged along with a friend had been set up with Tim’s friend.

“I went as her wing man and Tim sort of as the filler, distraction to the wing man. And we ended up falling in love and they did not,” Anna, 28, said.

From the moment Tim saw the striking brunette, he knew that they would wed. Unfortunately, the long distance relationship that began that night was further complicated by relocations and their busy lives; eventually they amicably parted ways.

Tim, who considers Orange Park home, said, “We stayed in touch … it was just hard.”

Even broken up, they spent every New Year’s Eve together until 2011, when circumstances were not going to allow it — until surprising last-minute transfer orders required Tim, a Navy pilot, to drive through Dallas, where Anna then lived, on December 31.

“It was so meant to be,” said Anna, a regional director for Gen Next.

By the time Tim left Dallas for NAS Lemoore, where he is still stationed, they were back together.

“She was tough to persuade but she came around,” Tim said.

They spent a lot of time and money on planes, trains and automobiles, but the extra effort kept them happily together. Then, in June 2013, Tim proposed during a trip to Key West with Anna’s family.

Tim and Anna said “I do” on March 1 at Oyster Bay Yacht Club in Fernandina Beach.

The traditional ceremony was made all the more spiritual by the musical stylings of a gospel choir and a beautiful wooden cross that Tim built.

“Tim spent his entire Christmas break building the cross; we joked that it was the cross Tim had to bear,” said Anna, who now lives in Newport Beach, Calif.